“The Women of Future" an Authentic Self-Help Group Study with Syrian Women

Objective: Due to the civil war in Syria that broke out in 2011, millions of people have been forced to emigrate to Turkey. War and migration have brought many psychosocial needs for immigrants with themselves. Syrian immigrant women have formed a self-help group, the Women's Committee of Future, with the support of a non-governmental organization that provides psychosocial support. In this study, women attending meetings of the Women's Committee of Future will compare the level of depression and gender roles awareness before and after group intervention. This authentic application which is sensitive to culture and gender is aimed at composing a model for traumatized people and community-based psychosocial support interventions to be confected to women and immigrant groups. Methods: In the study, mixed research method has been used with Concurrent Triangulation Designin which qualitative and quantitative data were examined together. The face-to-face meetings have been held with the women participating into the meeting by the Women's Committee of Future by conducting polls. Qualitative data were analyzed by descriptive analysis while quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS package program. Results: The average age of 30 Syrian women participating into the research is 40.1. According to Beck Depression Inventory, 73% of the women had moderate and severe depression before joining the group. After joining the group, it was observed that 13.3% of the women had moderate and severe depression. It has been determined a significant difference in the scores of the participants' gender rolesafter getting involved in the group (p<0.05). During the interviews held with the women, the favourablethemes related to the effects stemming from the committee meetingssuch as "change" and "empowerment". Conclusion: The women participating into the meetings held by the Women's Committee of Future have had positive changes in their mental well-being and their awareness of gender roles. This psychosocial support intervention may be a model for the other groups of women and migrants